Tricycle Blog

Lots to talk about with Tibet.
China's news agency says more than 100 protesters have surrendered. And there are no changes to their plan to run the torch down Everest and across Tibet to Beijing. The unrest won't affect the Olympics at all, officials say.
More »

[Author’s note: It’s been my observation that the deepest compassion often arises from worst adversity, abandonment and neglect. It is those who suffer most who understand suffering best.]
The year was 1954 and I’d been drafted into the Army and sent to Germany as part of the occupation forces. I met Ditha through a friend of hers who contracted with the Army to manage the mess hall at Friedberg Kaserne where I was stationed. As time went on, I learned something of Ditha’s past. She remembered being left one day at her aunt’s apartment in Frankfurt because, as it was explained to her, her Mother and Father had “business” somewhere that day. But they never came back to pick her up, and that’s the last she knew of them or their whereabouts. Later the Nazi’s came and took her aunt away, and Ditha became a ward of the state, housed in an orphanage.
More »

We received this email a short time ago:
Dear All,
Since March 7th, The Tibet Connection has been unable to publish anything to our website thetibetconnection.org because of a problem with our server. We are learning that other Tibet-related sites are experiencing similar problems.
More »

China has blamed the Dalai Lama for the violence in Tibet, and the Chinese response to the protests has stirred resentment among Tibetans in India. So we come to this:
DHARAMSALA, India — The Dalai Lama on Tuesday invited international observers, including Chinese officials, to scour his offices here and investigate whether he had any role in inciting the latest anti-Chinese violence in Tibet.
More »

Our friend Sharon Salzberg sent us an email with the following:
Statement of Senator Barack Obama on the situation in Tibet
Chicago, IL, March 14-- "I am deeply disturbed by reports of a crackdown and arrests ordered by Chinese authorities in the wake of peaceful protests by Tibetan Buddhist monks. I condemn the use of violence to put down peaceful protests, and call on the Chinese government to respect the basic human rights of the people of Tibet, and to account for the whereabouts of detained Buddhist monks.
These events come on the 49th anniversary of the exile of the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, the Dalai Lama. They demonstrate the continuing frustration of the Tibetan people at the way in which Beijing has ruled Tibet. There has been an informal dialogue between Chinese leaders and the Dalai Lama's representatives over the past six years.
More »

Tibet's biggest protests in almost 20 years continue. They are outside Lhasa and outside Tibet, and they are all over the world. Western leaders continue to timorously timidly judiciously urge restraint, while the IOC urges "appeasement."
Check out the Go Tibet! page at the Worst Horse.
More »

China's crackdown on Tibet is an embarrassment to the Bush administration's foreign policy team (but then again, what isn't?) China was recently taken off the U.S.'s list of worst human rights offenders, and this is how they repay Dubya?
Protests at Chinese consulates around the U.S. today, including New York and Chicago. [Picture at right from the Chicago Tribune.]
Meanwhile China declares a "people's war":
More »

Will cries of "Free Tibet!" drown out China's Olympic triumph?
No, says Beijing, and hell no says the International Olympic Committee.
Video of the protests. Several videos on YouTube and elsewhere with fleeting glimpses of the unrest.
UPDATE: Protests at the Chinese embassy in Washington.
More »

Reports of at least 30 dead fromTibetan exile groups.
Sun Weide, a spokesman for the Beijing Olympics organizing committee, said the unrest would not have a negative impact on the Games or the torch relay.
Preparations to carry the Olympic torch across Mount Everest and across Tibet "have been proceeding very smoothly and according to schedule," Sun said.
"The hosting of the Beijing Games is the 100-year dream for Chinese people and I think the Chinese people, including our compatriots in Tibet, very much look forward to hosting the Games," Sun said.
The United States and other governments have urged China to show restraint on the protesters, though International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge deferred, saying he didn't have details.
More »

From the New York Times. 50 or 60 monks arrested. Dead bodies all around Lhasa.
The government response to the Burmese protests was such a black eye for China, it is astounding they would raise the ire of the world again by firing on peaceful demonstrators themselves. Is it arrogance, or fear that motivates them?
This should lead to many condemnations and Olympic boycotts. The world has so little leverage over China otherwise, and the games are so important to Beijing
.
More »